Shinanomachi, Koyosha

November 30, 2018

Koyosha was built in 1988 as the building for the College of Nursing. When the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care was established in 2001 and the College of Nursing closed in 2003, the use of Koyosha expanded. Not only did the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care take over the building as its base of operations, but it also became available to all students on the Shinanomachi Campus, with facilities such as lockers and study rooms for School of Medicine students. Third-year students of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care are based at the Shinanomachi Campus, so Koyosha is still used for their lectures and practical training. In recent years, taking advantage of its proximity to the city center, Koyosha is also used for lectures for students of the Graduate School of Health Management and the Graduate School of Medicine.

When Koyosha was first built, it was called the "College of Nursing building," but it was named "Koyosha" in 2003. The name comes from the word "koyo," found in a letter sent by Kitasato Shibasaburo, the founder of Keio's medical sciences, to his younger siblings in Kumamoto while he was studying in Tokyo. "Koyo" means to care for and support one's parents with filial piety, a fitting term for modern medical sciences, which requires being "kind to patients."

Koyosha is a reinforced concrete building with one basement floor and five floors above ground. On the Shinanomachi Campus, where much of the site is occupied by the University Hospital, it plays an important role as a space to support students' extracurricular activities. In particular, the gymnasium on the fifth floor is used as a practice area by the School of Medicine's Athletic Association clubs (such as the kendo, table tennis, baseball, and kyudo clubs). Although access is currently restricted for safety reasons, the rooftop has a gazebo and plantings, offering a magnificent view overlooking Jingu Gaien. It is said that when the building was first completed, College of Nursing students could be seen eating lunch and reading on the rooftop. There are also records of faculty, staff, and students watching the annual Jingu Fireworks Festival together from the Koyosha rooftop. It must have been a cherished summer memory at the time.

On the second floor, students from the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care and the School of Medicine can be seen studying diligently in the study rooms and student lounge. On the first floor, in addition to the research labs for the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, there was once a small College of Nursing office with seating for about seven people. Today, the Shinanomachi Campus Office of Student Services and the Postgraduate Medical Education Center have their offices there, with an administrative space for about twenty-some staff members coexisting across the floor. For this reason, junior residents also come and go from Koyosha.

The large cherry tree next to the main entrance blooms magnificently every spring, adding a splash of color to the otherwise austere image of the Shinanomachi Campus. In May 2018, the new hospital building (Building 1) opened. Infused with the spirit of 100 years of Keio Nursing, Koyosha will surely continue to watch over the training of new generations of medical professionals in step with the times.

(Eisaku Hata, Manager, Secretarial Section, University Hospital)